Antennas include transducers designed to transmit or receive electromagnetic waves. Antennas may convert electromagnetic waves into electrical currents and electrical currents into electromagnetic waves. Antennas often utilize radiating elements capable of transmitting and/or receiving electromagnetic energy.
Phased array antennas provide rapid electronic radiation beam scanning as required by advanced communications, data link, radar and SATCOM systems. The ability to rapidly scan the radiation pattern of a phased array antenna may allow for multifunction/multi-beam/multi-target, LPI/LPD (low probability of intercept and low probability of detection) and A/J (anti-jam) capabilities. Polarization matched satellite tracking and broad band, multi-function phased array architectures may also enable simultaneous reception of satellite TV and other data links.
Existing antennas are often bulky, mechanically steered arrays. When attached to a platform such as a vehicle or airplane, these bulky antennas often fail to meet stringent form factors. Further, performance requirements placed on SATCOM electronically scanned arrays (ESA), are not met by existing technologies. For example, current planar radiating element technology is usually one-dimensional and is not readily available for use in Ku-Band SATCOM. By way of another example, current planar radiating element technology does not effectively meet isolation requirements between radiating elements.
Further, existing directional couplers often require full direct current (DC) connections. When implemented as transmission line couplers, these full DC connections require additional time and material to form the structures (e.g., striplines) in order to provide the DC coupling.
Therefore, it is desirous to obtain more robust, secure and otherwise improved ESA technologies, methods, and apparatuses that are more versatile in communication capabilities and contribute to reduced size, weight and power (SWAP) constraints.